Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski (3 September 1921 – 21 July 2016) was a Polish-born

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

and inventor with 50

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s to his credit. He was a civil and

industrial engineer Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

by profession, educated in Poland, Belgium, and the United States. He was also a writer on Polish and European history, author of historical atlases, and a

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

Life

Pogonowski was born in Lwów, Poland. After the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in World War II, in December 1939 Pogonowski, aged 18, left

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

with the intent of joining the Polish Armed Forces in the West. He was arrested in Dukla by the German authorities on suspicion of aiming to join the resistance. He was moved between prisons and camps for five years thereafter. Interned at the

Krosno Krosno (in full ''The Royal Free City of Krosno'', ) is a historical town and Krosno County, county in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. The estimated population of the town is 47,140 inhabitants as of 2014. The functional ...

, Jasło, and

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

prisons among others, he was sent with 500 prisoners to Auschwitz, and from there, several months later, to Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen. He survived the camps and was liberated on 2 May 1945. Pogonowski summarized his experiences at the

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

in a three-page article popularized in Richard C. Lukas' ''Out of the Inferno''. In 1954 he graduated in Civil Engineering at the Catholic University: Institute Superieur de Commerce in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. He moved to the United States and in the following years worked as a project engineer in the oil industry.

Historian and lexicographer

Pogonowski published an illustrated history of Poland (2000), historical atlases and a work on

Polish heraldry Polish heraldry is the study of the coats of arms that have historically been used in Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It treats of specifically Polish heraldic traits and of the Polish heraldic system, contrasted with heraldic sys ...

(2002). Pogonowski's ''Jews in Poland'' was praised by M. K. Dziewanowski, who called the book a "pioneering attempt o'encompass' Jews within the Polish discourse, a rarity in American scholarship and in the discourse about Jews." He was criticized by Piotr Wróbel and Joanna Michlic, who believes him to represent the ethnonationalist trend in historiography. Pogonowski compiled several Polish–English, English–Polish dictionaries which have appeared since 1981, including his ''Unabridged Polish–English Dictionary'' (3 volumes, New York, Hippocrene Books, 1997; some 100,000 entries) and the ''Polish-English, English–Polish Standard Dictionary'' (1985, reprinted 1993, 1994 and 1997). His journalistic work includes broadcasts for the Polish religious radio station '' Radio Maryja'' and columns for its sister publication, '' Nasz Dziennik'' (Our Daily). He has also written columns in the Polish-American biweekly, '' Gwiazda Polarna''.

Publications

Dictionaries

* ''Practical Polish–English Dictionary'', Hippocrene Books, 1981. * ''Polish–English, English–Polish Standard Dictionary'', Hippocrene Books, 1985. * ''Compact Polish–English Dictionary'', Hippocrene Books, 1985. * ''Polish Phrasebook and Dictionary: Complete Phonetics for English Speakers'', 103 pp., 1991. * ''Unabridged Polish–English Dictionary'', 3 volumes, New York, Hippocrene Books, 1997.

History

* ''Poland: A Historical Atlas'', revised edition, New York, Hippocrene Books, 1989. * ''The Jews in Poland: A Documentary History; the Rise of heJews as a Nation from Congressus Judaicus in Poland to the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

in Israel'', New York, Hippocrene Books, 1993. * ''Świat po amerykańsku'', Fundacja 'Nasza Przyszłość', 2004. * ''Heraldyka – Heraldry'', CD-ROM, published by Juliusz Ostrowski, 2002. *
Poland: An Illustrated History
', Hippocrene Books, 2000 (recommended by Norman Davies and Zbigniew Brzeziński).Hippocrene Books
* ''Jews in Poland: A Documentary History'', New York, Hippocrene Books, 1998. * ''Historyczny Atlas Polski'' (A Historical Atlas of Poland), Wydawnictwo Baran i Suszczyński, 1995. * ''Poland: A Historical Atlas'', New York, Hippocrene Books, 1987. * ''Hegemonia – On US Foreign Policy'',

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, WERS, 2008. * ''The First Democracy in Modern Europe: Million Free Citizens in Poland during the Renaissance'', 2010 (E-Book).

References

External links

* Richard C. Lukas
''Out of the Inferno'', pp. 139–42.
University Press of Kentucky,
Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pogonowski, Iwo Cyprian 1921 births 2016 deaths Writers from Lviv 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Polish lexicographers Polish industrial engineers Polish heraldists Burials at Rakowicki Cemetery Polish expatriates in Belgium Polish expatriates in the United States Auschwitz concentration camp survivors